Jesus Criticizes the Teachers of the Law^(A)

³⁸ Jesus continued teaching. He said, “Be careful of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around wearing clothes that look important. And they love for people to show respect to them in the marketplaces. ³⁹ They love to have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. ⁴⁰ But they cheat widows and take their homes. Then they try to make themselves look good by saying long prayers. God will punish them very much.”

Jesus Criticizes the Religious Leaders^(A)

³⁷ After Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee asked Jesus to eat with him. So he went and took a place at the table. ³⁸ But the Pharisee was surprised when he saw that Jesus did not wash his hands^[a] first before the meal. ³⁹ The Lord said to him, “The washing you Pharisees do is like cleaning only the outside of a cup or a dish. But what is inside you? You want only to cheat and hurt people. ⁴⁰ You are foolish! The same one who made what is outside also made what is inside. ⁴¹ So pay attention to what is inside. Give to the people who need help. Then you will be fully clean.

⁴² “But it will be bad for you Pharisees! You give God a tenth of the food you get, even your mint, your rue, and every other little plant in your garden.^[b] But you forget to be fair to others and to love God. These are the things you should do. And you should also continue to do those other things.

⁴³ “It will be bad for you Pharisees because you love to have the most important seats in the synagogues. And you love for people to show respect to you in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴ It will be bad for you, because you are like hidden graves. People walk on them without knowing it.”

⁴⁵ One of the experts in the law said to Jesus, “Teacher, when you say these things about the Pharisees, you are criticizing our group too.”

⁴⁶ Jesus answered, “It will be bad for you, you experts in the law! You make strict rules that are very hard for people to obey.^[c] You try to force others to obey your rules. But you yourselves don’t even try to follow any of those rules. ⁴⁷ It will be bad for you, because you build tombs for the prophets. But these are the same prophets your ancestors killed! ⁴⁸ And now you show all people that you agree with what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you build tombs for the prophets! ⁴⁹ This is why God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send prophets and apostles^[d] to them. Some of my prophets and apostles will be killed by evil men. Others will be treated badly.’

⁵⁰ “So you people who live now will be punished for the deaths of all the prophets who were killed since the beginning of the world. ⁵¹ You will be punished for the killing of Abel.^[e] And you will be punished for the killing of Zechariah,^[f] who was killed between the altar and the Temple. Yes, I tell you that you people will be punished for them all.

⁵² “It will be bad for you, you experts in the law! You have taken away the key to learning about God. You yourselves would not learn, and you stopped others from learning too.”

Warning Against the Teachers of the Law^(A)

⁴⁵ While all the people were listening to Jesus, he said to his followers, ⁴⁶ “Be careful of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around wearing clothes that look important. And they love for people to show respect to them in the marketplaces. They love to have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. ⁴⁷ But they cheat widows and take their homes. Then they try to make themselves look good by saying long prayers. God will punish them very much.”